Entertainment

Beacon Street Girls Launches New Community Targeting Tweens

When I was a teen (and even a tween, which was before the term was coined), there weren't many online sites geared towards my demographic. That era that the company B*tween has dubbed as the time between "toys and boys" can be rough for a lot of tween girls, so B*tween has partnered with book publisher Simon & Schuster to create a Beacon Street Girls social network, modeled after the popular BSG book series.

Quite similar to Flip in concept (and in the ability to decorate one's virtual locker), the new BSG network offers a place where tween girls can create a personalized profile page and meet others their age. There are a number of clubs and advice editorials featured throughout the site, so members can find others that share their same interests (fashion, softball, etc.), and have a place to rant about bad cafeteria food and the woes of shifting from elementary to middle school. Unlike Flip, however, BSG is (unsurprisingly) heavily branded with one theme in mind, utilizing the network as a marketing platform for related products like books and sleepover kits.

That's not to say that it's a bad thing. Flip had trouble meeting initial expectations with its niche network, despite its potential as a marketing playground where users could decorate their virtual lockers with posters featuring different bands and things of that nature. But BSG is so niche, given its connection with the BSG book series that its targeting goals and capabilities are likely different than those of Flip.

There are other branding and marketing opportunities, however. Certain celebrities will offer featured content, free downloads, and posters, giving members even more ways to personalize their profile pages, and even their computers and *gasp* MySpace pages. To be clear, BSG appears to be a safe, parent-approved alternative to sites like MySpace, but the presence of free downloads for things like backgrounds does indicate that there's a level of encouraged shareability going on here.

And without steep verification restrictions during the registration process, there is a level of trust and monitoring parents may need to consider when letting their children join this site, but if it's any consolation, profiles don't appear to be public even to other members. All-in-all, I would've enjoyed a site like this as a tween growing up, though it would've been something more along the lines of a socnet for readers of the Babysitter's Club book series.

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